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Euro Trip 2010A trip journal by David BowersSeptember 26, 2010 to October 5, 2010Page 1 |
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Euro Trip 2010A trip journal by David BowersSeptember 26, 2010 to October 5, 2010Page 1 |
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It's that time again! Yes, time for me to make another excursion to Europe. I started planning this trip shortly after the Ireland trip in 2008. Shortly after that trip, Fr. Barry from St. Rose in Cincinnati indicated that in 2010 he would be leading a pilgrimage to Oberamagau for the 2010 Passion Play. Bob and I both were very interested in the play, so we kept watch over the Catholic Telegraph and as soon as the trip was advertised we wrote for our brochures.
When my brochure arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to learn the trip was in late September and a visit to The Oktoberfest in Munich was part of the entertainment offerings on the trip. Further looking over the brochure, I see that we will also tour Salzburg and Vienna in Austria, as well as Budapest in Hungary. Sounds great, sign us up!
And so time passed, and we made our regularly scheduled trip payments. One of the things we weren't looking forward to was the trip was scheduled to go through Detroit, not flying there mind you, but by bus to Detroit. So around December 2009 we jumped on the chance to spend $100 more to fly through Cincinnati. As it works out the bus ride to Detroit would have also been about $100, so there really was no price change.
So, back into the waiting spell, until August, 2010, when we had the pre trip social at St. Rose. The evening included a full buffet of German food and snacks, as well as a talk about what to expect on the trip, and for those first time European travelers an introduction to all the things you have to bear in mind when you travel to Europe.
Things got exciting in September, when it came time to pack, exchange some money, receive our trip packets with airline tickets, hotel reservations, ID cards and more. Things got even more exciting on September 25. That was the night before the trip, Bob and I met that night for the 7:00 pm Mass at St. Rose, and then we made our plans for the next morning.
As you might guess, I was awake early with a start, and loaded up the car and was out on the streets ahead of schedule. We then headed to Bob's house to pick him up, and then we headed to the airport. Our flight out of Cincinnati would be on US Airways, which means we can forget about that nice modern Delta concourse; no we would be headed to Terminal 2, which is the older part of the airport.
Mom dropped us off curbside, and we headed inside and up the escalator to the ticketing lobby. We really thought we were going to be early, arriving at 9:15 for a 12:15 flight, but when we got to the US Air ticket counter, we were not the first, and in fact fell in line behind others in our group. Check in was relatively painless we showed our passports, and they checked our bags all the way to Munich and issued us boarding passes all the way to Munich as well. I do miss the little envelope/sleeves they used to give you to put your tickets into. As I expected, check in took less than 15 minutes even with the line. Knowing the terminal from the Internet, I knew there was little to do airside, so we went into the Damon's landside and had a nice breakfast. Bob had a ham and cheese omelette, and I had a traditional breakfast with eggs, sausage, home fries and French toast. It was a great start to the day.
After leaving the restaurant we headed to the TSA checkpoint. There was nobody using the checkpoint when we entered the lane. At first it was pretty standard stuff, show your ID and boarding card to get into the checkpoint. Then I knew to remove shoes, jacket, then pull laptop out of carry on bag, and set my liquids bag out. What I was not expecting is when they asked us to remove our belts, and totally empty out pockets. Yes, this includes paper, and I had to remove my lanyard style passport holder. The reason for all of this is they have those new full body imagers, I really don't like them. Essentially you get into the machine, and you have to spread your feet apart, and hold your hands up high. Then the machine takes what seems to take several minutes to get a good scan. When I went through the security officer was trying to make small talk to try to make the process not seem quite so long. Then when the machine says it has a good scan, you can step forward into a holding area where you stand by another officer. That officer will get a call on their radio letting them know the disposition of your scan, then I was cleared to go to the conveyor belt to collect all my stuff. My big hang up, as well as other passengers is how long you are separated from your valuables. After clearing TSA, you pass a bagel shop, and then you go down the hallway to the gates. Down by the gates, all 8 of them, there is just a newsstand and a set of restrooms located in center of the concourse. Not much to do or see there. About an hour before the flight, we were all paged up to the podium. This was because we had an international ultimate destination and they wanted to check our passports before they accepted us for the first segment. They made some marks on our boarding cards. Around 11:45 we were invited to board the CRJ90 that would take us to Charlotte, departing from gate 7. Not much to report here, just your typical regional ride. We received a few ounces of soft drink, but no snacks, those were available for purchase. At Charlotte, they didn't use a jet way, but they do push a ramp up to the aircraft to allow for ADA access.
Once we arrived in Charlotte, we proceeded as a group from gate E20 to D12. Once we were comfortable we knew where we were, Father passed our prayer cards for travelers, and we had a group prayer. A group of us then headed to a sit down restaurant in the terminal where we could both watch the Bengal's game and have lunch. Bob and I split a Cuban sandwich and fries. We rather liked it, and then we bought some kind of chocolate cake desert to share amongst the whole table.
We got back to the gate just in time to line up at the podium again. Yes, they wanted to check out passports again, and they told us the boarding passes US Air issued were not valid, so they exchanged those boarding passes with boarding passes issued on their own ticket stock. Same seat assignments, so I don't understand what that was all about. We also had to fill out a Department of Transportation form. Not much, just names and basic info as well as an emergency contact. You have to drop those in a drop box located on the counter. Last thought about Charlotte, what is with the restroom attendants, I am perfectly capable of getting my own towel out of the dispenser.
Next it was to board the Lufthansa flight to Munich. At the bottom of the jet way they were passing out newspapers if you wanted. We boarded and headed almost clear to the back of the Airbus 340. There was a packet of stuff waiting in my seat - a pillow, blanket, headset, and an in seat personal AVOD system for entertainment. It was a long flight at around 8 to 8 and a half hours. Shortly after take off hey come around with the drinks, and as I would find out, beer and wine are included in the drink service. So I settled down with a Warsteiner and a packet of crackers that are shaped like the playing card symbols. It didn't seem much longer they were passing out hot heated moist towels to freshen up before dinner.
Dinner was not bad for an airline, I had a Caesar salad, grilled chicken breast, green beans, some stuffing, mashed sweet potatoes, roll and butter, a block of cheese, and something that taste like rum cake. Mind you this was with real silverware and plastic dishes, even in economy. After dinner they served tea or coffee. Then it was time to settle into hours of boredom, and I learned that as usual I couldn't sleep on a plane when I want to. I did keep myself busy with a couple walks to the lavatory, which is noteworthy on this plane because they are downstairs under where you sit. That and taking a couple walks around the twin aisled plane, checking on Bob a couple times, as we were not seated together. He seemed to be more successful at falling asleep. We were a bit nervous when they came on the PA to ask if there were any doctors on board to attend to a passenger. It was nobody in our group, and we never did hear what happened.
Towards the end of the flight they came around again with the hot towels to freshen up for breakfast. Juice, fruit salad, a granola bar, a block of cheese was in the breakfast box. What I was most happy about is that I made it over to Europe without incident, on both the Italy and the Ireland trips, I got sick on the flight over the ocean, but no such incidents this time around.
